Otakon: Day 1

So Friday started off really crazy for me! I was debuting my new cosplay of Scarlet Kiss from Star driver! After getting all the pieces on it was time for our group to head out for an early morning photoshoot! However it was about 100 degrees and the shoot was outside! D= After complications the shoot began and I was already sweating and felt awful! Near the end of the shoot as I was taking a picture with Justin(our Takuto) my heart started pounding like crazy and I felt really dizy - I ended up almost fainting/having a heat stroke!! Luckily my friends took care of me and threw water on top of me - and then we all joked that Justin was just to beautiful to look directly at.

Above is a preview shot! Totally worth it!

After the shoot I only ended up wearing the costume for about 20 minutes more, in the con, because I felt kinda sick still. I changed into Kida and started my shift at the Aniplex booth!

I was helping with the DRRR Stamp Rally and promoting! Thanks everyone who stopped by and participated!

After work I got some quick food with Nicole before meeting with Skylar of Candy Threads who I was modeling for in the Ultimate Lolita Fashion Show! I ended up wearing a sweet coordinate and twinning down the runway! For some reason even though my personal style is not sweet I always end up modeling it!! XD

I hope to see more pictures soon! Skylar is an awesome designer/seamstress and everyone looked so lovely! Even Sakurai-san stopped by backstage after the show to take pictures of her work!

As if my day wasn't long enough - I had one more costume after the show! Naoto from Persona 4! I dressed up in one of her casual outfits to match Dojima, Adachi, and Souji as men out on the town! We went to the midnight Persona shoot and goofed off with our empty beer can props we took from a friend XD

We did a photoshoot with a friend and it ended with Adachi and Dojima in the downtown fountain fully clothed XD Oh my friends....

I will post more pictures from each event/shoot when I get more! Otakon Day 2 coming next!

DIY Phone Deco!

So a project I've wanted to do for awhile was Deco out my cellphone! I decided to buy a prepackaged Dekoden kit from Tokyo Rebel instead of random assortments of jewels and other decorations. This seems best for a first time big project!

Instead of putting the pieces right on my phone I decided to decorate a phone case so that I could switch if I wanted to. This was also to protect the phone!

The kit had all the little pieces in a bag so I just took them out and moved

pieces around trying to figure out some kind of pattern. After getting a general idea I glued down the outside border of gems and then the big pieces. I filled in around them randomly trying to not run out. I almost did it was close! The other tricky part was I kept using too much glue making my pieces slide!

It was kind of a scary process but I had fun and now have a general idea of what to do!

Here's the finished project:

I can't wait to Deco out more things!!

Akira x SEXPOT!

Model Akira gives a tour of the two SEXPOT stores in Harajuku, SEXPOT ReVeNGe and SEXPOT TOKYO for overseas fans!

Akira is an idol of mine as a KERA reader model the past 2 years as well as being SEXPOT's current 'poster' model. Off the pages she continues to have great style and is inspiring and is just plain cool! Even in this video the styling was done on her own.

Video filmed and subbed by the Tokyo Rebel Team! =)

OUTFIT SNAP

Recent outfit I've work to work! I love visors so much I've been wearing mine a lot in different styles/ways!!! Wearing it here boy!rock/punk style!

Jacket/Shirt/Visor/Lock - SEXPOT ReVeNGe

Pants - DIY old jeans

Belt - Hot Topic

International Lolita Day

I took part in International Lolita Day this past Saturday! Very unexpected from me I feel!

I did a panel at Kinokuniya with my coworker Megan about our store Tokyo Rebel. It’s rare I dress all up in Lolita(though it seems more often lately due to events!) because I don’t always feel comfortable with myself in it but once in a while it’s really fun to dress up. I think working at a store that sells Lolita definitely makes me wear the style a bit more than I would on my own. It's not a good or bad thing really! It's just how it is.

I wore Alice and the Pirate’s Versailles dress(which was my first dress and dream dress) and I’ve finally got to use Laura’s fur little wrap =)



^ Photo by Andrew Wong of conpics.ws!

I enjoyed myself and had fun mingling with familiar faces and new ones!

Working harddd

Me and Megan!

I then finished off the day by going to Flushing with Ashley for Purikura!!

May 24th

Today I graduated with my AAS Degree in Fashion Design!

Whooo! I have a degree!!

However I'm not done my education yet! At FIT all majors(to my knowledge anyway) are spit up into two parts, Associates and Bachelors. After getting your Associates you can continue on to your Bachelors but you have to reapply! In my case my GPA was high enough that I didn't need to send a new portfolio and I was easily accepted to Upper Division! Some majors are only Associates and some only Bachelors and therefor you might take an Associates in one thing(like Communication Design) and later for Upper Division get a Bachelors in another(like Toy Design). Confusing? A bit maybe, but it makes sense once you're here.

I'll be continuing on to get my Bachelors in Fashion Design(2 more years of school!) so I'm not done completely yet! In these next two years I'll be learning more specialized tricks of the trade!

Medieval Times!

Me and some friends went to Medieval times to celebrate me and Scout's upcomming birthdays!

Me, Justin, and Scout ruling the kingdom!

"Can they really play those?!"

Attempted group shot! Olden days moodlighting doesn't work well with photos D=

We were the Black/White team and our knight was a warrior priest! >D

I hadn't been to Medieval times since I was in Elementary school so this was a total treat! Our knight ended up losing but we cheered and yelled and enjoyed ourselves the whole time.

Six Flags!

Sunday after Sakura Matsuri a bunch of us went to Six Flags to celebrate Justin and Jenni's birthday!

Sakura Matsuri!

This year at Sakura Matsuri (on April 30th) I actually had a really really great time. It's weird to look back and see how the festival evolved over the years.

Anyway! The trees were all in bloom which was really pretty! I got to mingle with lots of people and also passed out flyers for Tokyo Rebel! It was really fun hanging with people and talking to people I hardly get to see!

I dressed in boystyle/kadona!!

Blouse - BTSSB

Bow - BTSSB

Vest - H&M

Bloomers - River Island(Got it at some store in Dublin!)

Tights - Bodyline

Socks - Angelic Pretty

Bag - Penny's (Again from when I was in Ireland)

Boots - Forever 21

I put up a little gallery of photos HERE!

Item Spotlight!

Hey everyone!

This week at work I promoted an item in the store as my "pick"!

Me and Megan both do this every other week or so!

I choose the SEX POT ReVeNGe SKULL GOING DAMAGE custom cutsew! It comes in both black and white but my favorite is the white color! I really like the use of white in punk/rock coordinates! And the contrast of the shirt to the image on it really stand out!

It's a custom cutsew so it's cut up in spots and is oversprayed randomly! There's a hood which overlaps in the front to give a draped cowl effect.

Also here was my outfit for work! I'm wearing my new 'Brash Funny Big Cutsew' from SexPot's Spring line!

Sweatshirt/Shirt/Necklace/Bag - SexPot ReVeNGe

Pants - Tripp NYC

Shoes - Old off brand boots I dug up!

OUTFIT SNAP

Sweatshirt, Tee, Belt, Necklace: SexPot Revenge

Pants: Originally from Heritage/Modified by me

Boots: Dr. Martens

Nature!

I'm visiting my hometown in New Jersey this week because of Spring Break! I went to a park and kind of forgot how an open field felt...

Here's a very casual outfit:

Cardigan - Heritage
Tank, Lock Necklace - SexPot Revenge
Pants - Forever 21
Boots - Dr. Martens

SexPot Spring Collection Video!

Here's me @ Tokyo Rebel talking about our new SexPot stock!

Tokyo Rebel blog post here!

Purikura!!!

Yesterday I took a trip to Flushing with Justin!

We went to TOTO a Purikura place off of Main Street and took some fun snaps!

We went to some of the little shops and I picked up some cute notebooks. Also got bubble tea from Quickly which I highly recommend! They have cheap tasty bubble tea(get a discount with a student ID!) in lots of flavors and are right by the subway just off Main Street.

Anyway here is what I wore:

Jacket, Shirt, Shorts, Leggings, Necklace: SexPot Revenge

I've really been in a red mood lately.....

Also stopped by Kinokuniya to pick up some new stickers to decorate my Purikura book and while I was there got a new planner which was on sale!

My haul from the day! Supplies!

SexPot Spring '11 Grabs!

I skimmed through SexPot's new releases a few weeks back and picked out a few things for now that I knew I definitely had to have for Spring. I picked them up at work this past weekend!

Here's what I got:

G.S.Q-1977 FUNNY BIG CUTSEW

I LOVE knit tops like this, I'm so glad the a-cut drape style is in right now. Also baggy knits give my current favorite silhouette shape of 'loose top skinny bottoms'. They fit my body type rather boyish as well which I find to really look good

on me. Super comfy and lightweight for Spring too!

BRASH FUNNY BIG CUTSEW

This is the same type of shirt with a different design. I fell in love with the bright green color and couldn't help but want to add it to my wardrobe. I can't wait to start coordinating it!

G.S.Q-1977 TOTE BAG

This tote is wider than normal square totes and can fit longer object

s more conveniently, for example my sketchbooks for class of my computer! It's just the right amount of extra space without being too big and I just love how totes feel to carry. This color combination was my favorite!

As for accessories:

I've been styling these new studded gems. The bracelet I got from Hottie @ St Marks Place, which is definitely one of my favorite accessories stores. It's actually one leather strip with different studs that wraps around three times before crossing in the back to close.

The ring is from SexPot's Spring shipment as well:

Just a few things right now! I'm really fond of some other items from the Spring collection but this is my latest purchase~

SEXPOT REVENGE SPRING COLLECTION 2011

TOKYO REBEL SEXPOT STOCK

OUTFIT SNAP

So I dyed my hair again! The red was fading and I wanted something new so I decided to dye black into my hair again. I dyed all my bangs this time instead of just a piece like I've done in the past! I made sure to not dye too far back so that there were enough blonde layers to brush forward on top of the black. I can style my hair with more black showing if I'm up for it but now I have the option! I used Manic Panic 'Raven' dye! It's more extreme in person it seems.

Had a lot of fun visitors at work yesterday! Here's what I wore:

Jacket, Shirt, Shorts, Leggings, Tail clip, Necklace: SexPot Revenge

I also filmed a video of the new SexPot stock we got in. I also had a special order of SexPot of their new Spring collection which came in with the order as well, so yay new clothes! I'll show off my loot a following post!

AAS Exhibit

The judging for the 4th semester AAS exhibition at school was today for my class! I was so nervous but I ended up getting in which was a huge stress reliever. Only half the class got in so I'm proud of myself for working so hard and making it in. I really can see myself growing as a designer.

As stated before the theme was Film Noir/Femme Fatale. It had to be museum quality and something special.

My design was based off the strong willed women of 1940/50s Film Noirs. A seductress/showgirl who isn't afraid to play dirty to get what she wants but not degrade herself. Also tried mixing hard a soft elements with materials and themes, and mix modern and past elements of Femme Fatale. For instance the leather adds a dominatrix modern feel yet the fur shrug(fake!) is reminiscent of the glamourous ladies of the 1940s movies. I could go on forever about it but you get the idea haha

Don't have a great picture up yet but this is a preview from my phone for now! =)

OUTFIT SNAP

My outfit for work on Friday! Was actually a pretty busy day! =)

Sweatshirt, Top, Shorts, Leggings, Lock, Tail - SexPot Revenge

Boots - Dr Martens

In the messy workroom at school slaving over my term garment....

Gazette New Single~

the GazettE new single Vortex 5/25!!!

So excited~~! I hope I can see them again this summer live >o<

TimeOut NY!

So not sure if I mentioned here but, in January I went in to TimeOut Magazine's NY studio for a photoshoot for their Most Stylish NYers Issue! They found me through Tokyo Rebel and liked my fashion style, so had me pick three winter coordinates to show off my style! They ended up upgrading me to a full page as a Style Icon in an issue.
I'm in the issue released today, #807 April 7-13! There's also an online article which I'm linking to below!



http://newyork.timeout.com/shopping-style/1113949/most-stylish-new-yorkers-tara-wood

It's all really exciting for me! Please take a look!

OUTFIT SNAP

Jacket- SexPot Revenge
Top - Hangry and Angry
Shorts, Leggings - SexPot Revenge
Boots - Forever 21
Accessories - Search and Destroy, SexPot Revenge

Btssb video!

I help show off the remaining new stock from Baby the Stars Shine Bright and Alice and the Pirates! I'm dressed in my retro casual lolita Alice coordinate!

Check Tokyo Rebel's site for more info on any of the pieces you see here!

New Hair Cut!

Got a cute hair-cut at the Salon KIWA right across from my school! It's a cute Japanese Salon that I've wanted to try for a long time and finally took the step!

I used an older picture of my favorite model Re:NO as a reference for the cut. Usually I get too nervous about the length but I just gave the picture and let my stylist handle it! I've learned I look weird with short hair if it's too short in the front so I get worried. But she shaped it really nice in the front!
Everyone was super stylish and cool and I love my haircut! They also gave me a massage XD;;

Kiwa Salon @ 27th between 7th and 8th Avenue!

New Online Modeling Portfolio~

Hey everyone!

The online portfolio I was using previously was for both my Design work and my modeling(with different folders). Thinking about it, I decided it would be best to separate them into two completely different portfolios. So besides Model Mayhem, I'm keeping an online modeling portfolio here:

http://taramodel.carbonmade.com/

I hope in the future to have my own domain where I can set up a more flushed out portfolio! For now this will do!

Thierry Mugler Womenswear Autumn/Winter)

The recent Mugler show yesterday was amazing! As a fashion student, artist, and Gaga fan this video makes me so happy.

Intwined in the show's soundtrack is a preview to Gaga's new song 'Government Hooker'. She herself makes an appearance in the show as a model. However that is not the main attraction in this piece of art. Mugler(now run by Nicole Formechetti) has a new modern direction that I love. The house has been known for their shows and this one is no exception I absolutely LOVE it.

To me Fashion is Art. When I design a collection I think of the big picture - mood, customer, setting - I paint a big canvas, a whole world. I really love when designers open up and put on a show. It's really inspiring to be, and just enjoyable, to see a show that goes all out like this. It's really a masterpiece.

For more information on Mugler:

Official site - http://www.thierrymugler.com/us/en/

Style.com - http://www.style.com/fashionshows/review/F2011RTW-TMUGLER

YuGiOh 3D!!!

Ah! Me and Justin saw YugiOh 3D in Times Square today!!

So for the 10th anniversary of Yugioh they made an hour special of the three protagonists meet and join forces!!! Justin noticed it was a special showing in select theaters. In NY it was only 12:45 today and yesterday and then next Sat and Sunday the same time! We decided we HAD to go because....CHILDREN'S CARD GAMES RULE. The movie was actually sold out and we barely got in and the theater was packed to capacity with everyone like our age and older! It was crazy and lulzy and I'm pretty sure the few families with kids who did attend were completely scared and confused by the crowd.

If you missed out it's playing again this weekend!

Check more info in this video!

Invitation from Yugioh:The Abridged Series:

Lady Gaga Monster Ball

Tuesday I had the greatest spontaneous thing ever happen....I went to the Lady Gaga concert at Madison Square Garden!

Awful phone quality pic I need to upload my camera still!!!

Lady Gaga is very inspirational to me. Her visions, fashion, lyrics, just everything about her consumes me. I saw her about a year ago now at Radio City Music Hall with Ashley last year and it was an emotional experience.
I had talked with people about trying to go but it seemed hopeless to get tickets at a decent price. Then on Monday night Alyssa found that ticketmaster released more tickets! We ended up getting a good price for tickets on the side second tier! The seats were definitely worth it and we had a good view! We even got to see stuff backstage like Gaga gettign ready before the show and hugging all her dancers and stuff!

Here's a picture taken from the Virgin Mobile booth of me!


I can't even descirbe all the emotions I felt ahhhh so good

Work!!

Our Bulletin board at Tokyo Rebel is very full with new photos right now!

I wore Putumayo to work yesterday! It's from our new shipment!

Washignton DC ~ Part 2

On Sunday George took me to the National Zoo!

I went there a few years ago and fell in love with the Red Pandas there. I had always had a soft spot for them but never quite had a lasting impression, most likely since it was a very long time before that when I had visited a zoo.

So ever since then Red Pandas had become my favorite animals! (Well alongside bunnies!) And I've made sure to go to a few Zoos to meet many of them!

These two in DC were so cute!!!

And here's a ferret that came out to play with us~!